Northern Rock will ignite a storm of controversy tomorrow when it reveals that its former boss Adam Applegarth received a Â£750,000 pay-off when he left last December.

Applegarth, who is 46, is also entitled to draw on a pension pot of Â£2.5m at the age of 55, built up since joining the bank as a graduate trainee almost 20 years ago. Experts say that could bring him retirement benefits of up to Â£200,000 a year.

Well the pension I have no problem with (Except maybe for its size) as after all if you've worked 20 odd years to get it then why not.

I know the Northern Rock issue was not a big screw up like everyone makes it out to be but fcuk me....750k for some ropey management!?!?! People get money for nothing these days.

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A good start for a wind-up. Of course the management didn't screw up just as the FSA report states every thing was A OK until a few people decided to take out their money for Christmas shopping. Couldn't have been predicted.

It's the UK way of life, in the US this guy would have been in court facing charges, in the UK he's getting a golden handshake, a big pension and probably a tidy job somewhere, more than likey at a government department.

It seems to happen every week, the likes of the Phoenix four at MG Rover was a good one, they came in with no real money, paid themselves Â£40 million over 5 years and walked away leaving everyone out of a job before disappearing with their pensions.

The worst one for me though is QINETIQ, how nobody has been put in jail over this fiasco is beyond me, again going by the US this would never have happened, selling off an area of top secret test and development for nothing, then watching everyone make tens of millions without complaining, then of course charging the MoD millions every year to do the same job they did before for basic wages.

if I remember my company law studies correctly, its probably written into their contract terms & conditions. If they had refused to pay this, the director could have brought legal action against them for breach of contract. A bit like with the 2m pension given to Bob Ayling (in charge of BA when they changed the logo on the tailfin). Its what the contract says he gets if he's fired. Its what both parties agree to at the outset.

Come now, you plainly don't understand the business world. If we don't offer iron-clad guarantees of money without regard for performance, how is Britain ever going to attract the best talent to our boardrooms? How can you expect a chap to go into work when he knows there won't be a Ferrari in it if things go fruit-like?

It's not as if we could hire the 9th or 10th best, save ourselves a bundle and still have the company's value nose-dive, or anything. That takes talent!